


Care, Healing, Shelter

by maat_seshat



Category: Liaden Universe - Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:38:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maat_seshat/pseuds/maat_seshat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Priscilla and Shan talk about avoiding trouble. Then they run into it anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Care, Healing, Shelter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/gifts).



> Thanks to [sylleptic](http://sylleptic.dreamwidth.org/) for the beta!

Priscilla laid her hand against the door plate and waited for the Captain's acknowledgement to enter.

Shan closed the document on his screen with a flourish and grinned at her. "Wine, Priscilla? I'm afraid you'll have to pour for yourself."

She smothered a smile and cocked her head at him. "What did the Captain wish to discuss?"

Shan shook his head at her. "Oh, no, Priscilla, that won't do. Go pick up a glass for yourself and sit down. We'll see if we can keep the captain out of this conversation."

She was already at the bar, pouring her glass of white. Shan could be predictable sometimes, which perhaps made up for those times when he wasn't predictable at all. By the time Priscilla turned around, Shan was smiling at her from the couch, pilot-quick and so smooth that she had barely heard him move. She joined him. "Now why am I here?" She raised a single finger when Shan looked prepared to take shameless advantage of her vagueness, and his mischievous smile went a little wry.

"You know me far too well, Priscilla." He sobered. "The next jump will take us into Irikwae. How familiar are you?"

Priscilla paused for a moment to pair Lina's lessons in the alliances and specialties of Liaden houses with the research any good first mate would do before going planetside. "Largely agricultural, dominated by Tarnia's wines, but with a number of cereals and beans. And Tarnia's cats, of course," she added with a flashing smile that Shan returned. "A convenient location for a world distant from Liad, that trading ships may cross in any number of paths, but Tarnia has strong ties to Ixin, which provides most of its carrying." She frowned. "Do you anticipate problems with Ixin?"

Shan shook his head quickly. "No, not at all. There are relationships of long standing with Ixin, built upon trade and more, but Ixin would hardly wish to see to the needs of the world entire. Nor are they so churlish as to begrudge the fair trades of another clan. Korval has always been careful to step with light foot upon Irikwae, but we are all of us pilots, and that comes easy enough." His lips curved up in another grin that he invited her to return, but a shadow lurked behind his eyes, and she didn't play along.

"Shan, what's wrong?" She laid a hand over his on the couch, and he turned his palm up to lace his fingers through hers. The grip was tighter by far than the conversation warranted.

He grimaced. "I don't suppose Lina gave you background on Irikwae's relationship with the dramliz?" She shook her head, and he tipped his head back, looking resigned. "No, of course not. Her line is known for producing Healers, not dramliz. Well, then. From its founding, the clans of Irikwae have found the talents of the dramliz...disturbing, let us say. They have come to accept Healers, fortunately, but their Healer Halls teach techniques that allow one to—" Shan brought his head back up, an exasperated look momentarily crossing his face, which nearly made Priscilla laugh but for the rigid tension in his body. "I am sorry, Priscilla. I preferred to keep this conversation in Terran, but Terran words for the works of Healers and dramliz are poor." He switched to Liaden, in the mode between Comrades but with hints of something closer, kin or lover, that made her shiver and remind herself sternly that the run was but half finished, and they had promised themselves a year to learn to be captain and first mate before all else. Then she paid proper attention to his words, and the suppressed shiver became a good deal less pleasurable. "They teach techniques to cut out the part of the pattern in which dramliz talent rests, that they might make an unwanted dramliza into an adequate Healer."

Priscilla blinked. "Shan, that's not possible." She waved off his correction. "No, no, I know that it is possible to shape a pattern to a desired path. But even Sintia knew that one's talents are far too bound up in who one is to shape without changing the personality entire. A dramliza's talent is in the mingling of sensitivity and creativity and belief—" She waved a frustrated hand. "No need to go into it all, and _I_ would probably need Sintian for a proper description. Suffice it to say, it would destroy the personality matrix to try."

Shan nodded. "Rumor tells that it is a painful process. Anthora." He paused, and Shan's sister came instantly to mind, small, dark, and composed, smiling with far greater self-possession than most young women temporarily home from university could boast. "You must understand, Anthora was barely a halfling when we visited. Nova had taken her turn on the _Passage_ and been bored silly, Val Con had done his and been a mischief, all very well for yos'Phelium, and my father was eager to introduce his youngest to the trade. And Anthora was quite dutiful! More so than the rest of us combined, you know."

Priscilla laughed softly and shook her head. "You'll forgive me if I doubt that."

Shan squeezed her hand quickly. "No? Well, then, I will just say that she was a good student, eager to learn on every world we visited." Priscilla nodded. That she could well believe. "When we reached Irikwae, she refused to leave the ship. Said that she could feel the deaths from orbit and had no desire to go closer, and no word from myself or my father could budge her."

Priscilla breathed deep at that. Anthora was far more sensitive than she and habitually went out with only the lightest shields, but even still. It was a damning reaction. "I see. I will be careful to remain in Serenity, then, that I not be distracted upon business of the ship."

Shan tugged her hand firmly enough to shake her a bit. "I have every confidence that you will do all that is right for the ship. I merely—Priscilla, please."

She turned more firmly to face him, jarred a little by the urgency in his voice. "What is it, Shan?"

"When we do go down to the surface, promise me that you will take care. Please."

This was not the captain speaking, and Priscilla understood why Shan had said that he wanted to keep the captain out of it, but that meant she had a bit more room to bargain than ship's necessity would otherwise give. "If you will do the same."

Shan shrugged that off. "I'm a Healer, Priscilla," he reminded. "Not a dramliza."

Priscilla shook her head. "No, no. I won't let you go so easily. I will take as much care as you do on Irikwae."

Shan grinned at her again, visibly attempting to change the atmosphere. "No, pray, Priscilla, do have a bit more concern for life and mind than I display!" She gazed patiently back, until he sighed elaborately. "Of course, Priscilla, you have my word that I will take care." She relaxed against the couch then, nudging Shan's shoulder with her own, and the talk turned to other things.

* * *

They had behaved themselves quite well on Irikwae, Shan thought as he and Priscilla made their way through mid-Port, though he forbore to tempt fate further by _saying_ so. The trade with tel'Ossa had gone well: gemstones and Solcintran textiles for wines from a number of smaller vineyards. Not as famous as Tarnia's wines, perhaps, but including several family favorites and well-anticipated by buyers who knew that the _Passage_ had visited Irikwae. A lovely day, all told, and likely to be another lovely one tomorrow, after which they might pick up and leave with no harm done, for all his nerves.

"But it's so pretty, Mama!" A child's voice, Low Liaden and careless of mode with the thoughtlessness of youth, drew his attention to a girl pointing not to himself or Priscilla, but to some unidentifiable space between them. The child's mother swatted her hand down, too tense to be simply embarrassed at a youngling's innocent discourtesy. There was a reassuring affection in the clasp of their hands, though, and the girl seemed little daunted by her mother's reprimand, too eager to explain her discovery.

Priscilla's breath caught, but her stride did not falter, and only one who knew her as well as Shan did would have noticed. He stretched an arm gently to call her attention, then flicked his hands quickly to direct her to a restaurant close before them while he paused to investigate. Though her Wall kept her emotions from Shan, he knew her well enough to read the resistance in the set of her shoulders, but he insisted, and she inclined her head gracefully, both of them still walking, though slowing almost imperceptibly. _Ten minutes_ , Priscilla's hands said emphatically, and Shan surrendered with good grace. _Ten minutes._

Priscilla continued forward, and he angled left to approach the pair. He kept his expression light but mostly neutral, careful that his movements be without threat and absolutely within Code. This mother was far too nervous to chance anything. "Forgive my curiousity," he began in the mode of Adult to Adult, "but I couldn't help overhearing. What did your daughter see?" He waved in an effort to dispel her obvious fear, but doubted his success. "It is only that I am Healer-trained out of Solcintra, and the child reminds me of my own sister, a bit, years ago." He watched and knew that he had judged correctly when his slight emphasis on _Solcintra_ did more to relax the woman than all his care toward his body language.

The child, too, seemed to feel her mother's relaxation, and answered for herself, a careful effort at the mode of Child to Adult of Another Clan. "I saw the bridge between you and the lady. It is very pretty."

Shan crouched, which put his head somewhere between child's and mother's. "The bridge, really? Only very strong unshielded Healers have seen it so clearly."

The child instantly drew herself upright. "I'm shielding!" she insisted. "Just as I'm supposed to."

Her mother winced, and Shan risked showing his hand just a bit. "I am Shan yos'Galan, who has the honor to be captain of the _Dutiful Passage_. I wonder if you might be willing to speak with myself and Priscilla for just a moment." He turned his attention to the child. "Priscilla is the lady, I should say. Priscilla Mendoza, first mate of the _Passage_."

Shan watched alarm sparkle in the woman's pattern, but none of it touched her face, while the child smiled broadly. "May we, Mama?"

"Priscilla is waiting for me at yon restaurant," he gestured, "and though I fear it has been years since I last visited, I recall it being a comfortable place to talk."

The mother turned her free hand palm-up in a gesture of wry surrender, and Shan stood smoothly but not too quickly.

He spotted Priscilla's face, touched by relief quickly concealed, soon after entering. With a quiet word to the proprietor, he led his contingent to the discreet booth that she had chosen and slid in beside her with a sigh of relief that he refused to let free. The hand that patted his leg quickly was her version of the same, but she quickly shifted her focus to the pair that were now settling into the seat across the table. She gave an abbreviated bow of introduction. "Priscilla Mendoza, First Mate of the _Dutiful Passage_. I am pleased to meet you."

The woman returned the courtesy. "Kelsae dea'Pere, Clan Gentor, and my daughter Arisa."

The conversation paused as a waiter came round and Shan ordered dishes in as great a variety as his memory allowed, which was significantly more than he and Priscilla could finish alone. The child would eat some, though the tension in her mother's neck showed she had seen through his trick. A glance handed the next question off to Priscilla.

"It is...unusual to find a mother out with such a young child on the port, especially among those not of a trading clan," she suggested to the napkin that she unrolled before her.

Kelsae dea'Pere offered a tense but mostly genuine smile. "Indeed. When one plans to travel off-world with such a child, however, it behooves one to introduce the child early."

Arisa sat silent and well-behaved beside her mother, and Priscilla offered her a smile that she returned. "Off-world travel, truly," Priscilla continued. "Might one inquire as to destination?"

Kelsae's smile froze a bit about the edges. "Solcintra was the ideal destination, but in the main I seek simply a larger Healer Hall. Perhaps one Scout-influenced."

"Indeed," Shan murmured, "Irikwae is no longer outworld enough to boast a large population of Scouts."

Priscilla nodded thanks for the information. "One wonders as to your success thus far. There are a number of vessels going both inwards towards Solcintra and further out to the fringes of space."

Kelsae's expression could no longer be called a smile and Arisa squirmed uncomfortably. The first of the food arrived before either of them could say anything, and Shan transferred samples of each dish to his own plate with great show of anticipation. Arisa took a bread roll, stuffed only lightly with cheese and nuts, and proceeded to begin dismantling it. Kelsae took a deep breath, placed a steadying hand on her daughter's shoulder, and answered. "Most captains prove reluctant to take on a passenger whose activities have been rumored to include walking through walls."

"I didn't walk through walls," Arisa protested. "I only walked where the walls were not."

"I am told," Kelsae added after a moment, fear and defiance a bewildering medley in both her pattern and her voice, "that there is a chance she could simply walk beyond the bounds of the ship's hull."

"I wouldn't," Arisa muttered, but quietly enough that Shan knew she had said so many times to no avail.

"And why would you not?" he asked her.

She waved vaguely, a few crumbs dropping from her fingers. "Underwater looks different from the air. No air should look different from atmosphere, I think."

"I see." Shan nodded gravely. "Might you then walk into compartments that are presently pressurized but might shortly have the air removed?" Arisa looked a bit stymied at that, and Kelsae frankly overwhelmed.

Priscilla took over again. "I am trained in magic, dramliz techniques, you would say," and Shan managed to suppress an urge to glare suspiciously around the room. The booths were built for discretion. "If I could guarantee that Arisa would not leave safe bounds aboard ship, would _Dutiful Passage_ serve?"

Kelsae blinked. Shan suspected that were she only a little less well-trained, her jaw would be gaping. "I—" she began, and could not seem to finish.

"Your clan?" Shan asked, low-voiced, because Priscilla would not.

Kelsae's mouth snapped shut, and she gathered herself straight and regal. "The Delm informs me that I must by relumma's end deliver Arisa to the Healers that her peculiarities may be dealt with." The words were awkward in Adult to Adult, a proclamation shorn of the intonations that would put it into the mode of Delm to Member of the Clan, and Shan winced. "My clan has had its say."

"Then should the _Passage_ serve," Priscilla interrupted, somehow managing to present the _melant'i_ of one bringing a conversation back to its proper conclusion without a hint of usurping captain's authority, and, truly, sometimes he loved her so much it hurt, "we might come to terms."

Shan let her finish the negotiations, though she was not a Trader, because this was a matter more for the ship's community than for the trade. He let her explain ship's policy on passengers, hearing for just a moment the ring of Gordy in her voice, and he listened with admiration as she delicately steered Kelsae towards an agreement that would simultaneously pay Kelsae's passage and draw both mother and daughter into contributing to the run as long as they remained. Though how she knew that dea'Pere specialized in fine textiles and embroidery was a wonder that he would have to quiz her on aboard ship; it was, after all, a rather obscure Line in a mid-level clan.

He followed along quietly as they quit the restaurant in favor of the port lockers where Kelsae had stored her own and her daughter's baggage, and he watched as Kelsae handed a small carryall to her daughter, then hefted the other two bags in her hand. "This is all I need," she said flatly. "We have said our goodbyes." Shan recalled that relumma's end was within a week.

Priscilla bowed acknowledgement, and Shan shifted forward to lead the way to the _Passage_ 's shuttle. A flash of too-purposeful movement caught his eye just as Priscilla stiffened. A man approached, his movements forceful amidst the swirl of portside bustle, and the thick and heavy Wall about him sat blocky and ugly before Shan's inner eye. "I wonder," he said gently as he took one of the bags from Kelsae, "if any more...aggressive Healers might be under the impression that they should have the care of Arisa?"

Kelsae followed his gaze, and her jaw clenched. "I am told that Healer Hall in Irikwae Port has been made to expect Arisa's arrival, though that was no part of the Delm's Instruction." Priscilla took the other bag from her and fell in at Shan's right, leaving Kelsae free to herd her daughter protectively between them.

"Quickly, then," Shan said. "I think we do not wish to meet the gentleman so eager to see us." They began walking briskly, endeavoring to evade the man without broadcasting their evasion, and Priscilla flared oddly to Shan's senses. After a moment, he realized that she was nudging the crowd into parting before them, as well as blurring Arisa's pattern with her own, such a smooth combination of dramliz and Healer skills that Shan nearly lost his concentration to the distraction of exploring its details. The brush of her arm against his startled him back to attention, and it was mere minutes before they were at the shuttle. Priscilla led the dea'Pere mother and daughter back to the seats, a toss of her head redirecting Seth's inquisitive look to Shan. Shan sank into the copilot's chair and began a preflight check, though surely Seth had already done one himself. "I do not think," he murmured, "that we wish to allow anyone not crew aboard the shuttle for this flight. Nor do I believe that anyone needs to hear about our passengers until they are safely aboard ship."

"Sure," Seth said, laconic as always, and began his own preflight check. They lifted a few minutes earlier than scheduled, but the port was easy with it, and it caused little stir. A quick call ahead ensured that Gordy would be waiting to conduct their newest passengers to quarters, and then there was nothing to do but wait until Seth's excellent flying delivered them home.

Shan felt Priscilla standing warm behind him as they watched Arisa and Kelsae first stare at the Tree and Dragon upon the wall, then follow Gordy bemusedly as he led them chattering into the corridor. "Arisa wanted to know what the bridge was," she said quietly.

"And what did you tell her?" Shan wondered aloud, twisting to face her. Priscilla smiled.

"A bond between us," she said. "One of many."

Shan nodded. "Many indeed," he said. "Including a mutual penchant for discovering trouble in even the most innocuous situations. I thought we both promised to take care, Priscilla."

Priscilla's smile softened, fond and amused. "We did, indeed. Displayed fit care for life and mind, I believe."

Shan laughed. "Fit care, of course. Now it remains only to be seen what the consequences are tomorrow."

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Nova's exasperation in _Conflict of Honors_ with "Shan's habit of rescuing every lame puppy and kitten in the galaxy," and by salable_mystic's wonderful prompt asking about Priscilla and Shan's efforts at relationship-building.


End file.
